


Desmodus Lullabies

by WriterOfFates



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Major Character Injury, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-09
Updated: 2014-11-09
Packaged: 2018-02-24 16:22:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2588186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterOfFates/pseuds/WriterOfFates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason and Dick seem to be the only ones left in Gotham these days. Left with only the destruction and each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Even through the gas mask, Jason can smell Gotham burning.

Gotham is always burning these days, even if it seemed like there was nothing more to burn.

He sighs and breaks into a house at the edge of the city, one that hasn’t been touched yet by the fires, and ransacks the pantry. He breathes in relief when he sees how well stocked it is; this family must have left everything when they ran.

He gathers as much of the food that hasn’t gone bad and stuffs it into a bag before heading back out onto the streets, listening for a moment, trying to make out the sounds of anything but the fires.

Not hearing anything out of the ordinary, he heads back towards what is left of the bridge heading north out of the city, towards what is still standing of Wayne Manor.

It takes some time—he has to walk it, since he’s used up most of the gas in the cars around the area, stowing what is left for absolute emergencies.

Just as he steps onto the bridge, he hears a rustling of wings. His eyes widen and he throws himself sideways, rolling under a semi, long since abandoned. Peeking out, he swears as he sees a bat-winged creature settle onto one of the lamp posts. This isn’t the manageable Man-Bat from Jason’s memory. No. This particular massive bat had crawled its way out of the fires of Gotham. Ironic, Jason thinks, that a city once protected by a large, terrifying, although admirably less hairy (barely), bat, should now be tormented by hordes of them.

Not that there’s much to torment. Gotham is uninhabitable now, the fires and the bats only the latest in a series of disasters that had brought the resilient city to its knees. Only a few years ago, Jason would have thought it impossible. Gotham could never be destroyed. She had been the last city standing, her and her people remaining strong, rallying together, long after even Metrapolis had fallen. But even she could not stand against the forces that have ravaged this world.

The creature opens it wings and flies off across the bridge, sailing down to the water and then back up, its wing span huge, and the sunlight disappears behind it for a moment.

Jason liked it much better when the bats around here only came out at night.

When it flies out of sight, he crawls out from under the truck and trots across the bridge, dodging giant holes until he reaches the nearly impassable chunk of missing ground. Sighing, he heads for the railing, climbing up onto it and walking across it like it was a balance beam. He tried not to look down. As much as he was used to heights and the very real possibility of falling from them, he certainly doesn’t love them the way Dick did. He remembers the last time Dick had come this way, how Jay’s stomach had rolled as Dick had flipped his way along this railing, always in control but always testing the limits of what you can do without a safety net.

But that was before… Jay sighs and hops down onto the road again, striding along the bridge, headed for the manor. He pulls his gas mask off as he steps off the bridge. Dick would kill him if he knew, but he’s never going to find out Jason takes off the mask before he’s in the cave. He hasn’t been able to convince Dick that the air is clear of smoke on this side of the river, most days. That the wind blows all the smoke and pollution south, just as it always has, leaving the manor’s air clean and clear. But Dick worries. So Jason just won’t tell him about those moments of clear air filling his lungs during the walk, or the way it feels good to close his eyes and just breath air that doesn’t reek of destruction or decay, of the city or the cave.

The walk is long, but by now, Jay’s used to it. Has to be used to it. And it’s going to keep growing longer each time he depletes the supplies of the closest homes. He knows that he can’t keep on doing this. Soon the trips won’t be day trips. He’ll have to stay on that side of the bridge, at night, with the bats and fire and whatever else roams the streets these days.

He’ll have to leave Dick alone even longer.

And Jason knows that isn’t an option.

He trots the rest of the way towards the manor, long as it is, and makes it home just as the sun begins to set, setting the sky even more on fire.

Much of the manor has collapsed in on itself, both from neglect and abuse and Jason doesn’t even bother heading inside. He walks into the overgrown gardens, past the teacup roses that had been Alfred’s pride and joy once upon a time, and which now have become a mass of brambles without a single petal to grace their branches. He makes for the shed he and Dick had built to cover the entrance to the cave that had emerged from the series of small earth quakes that had come at the beginning of the end. As far as he knew, the tunnel leading up to the grandfather clock in the manor was still good, but Jason couldn’t bring himself to pick his way through the deserted rooms, past the places where portraits had hung of the family. Dick had made sure that all the important pictures, including the painting above the fireplace in the study, had made it to safe places within the cave, but the empty spots on the crumbling walls were too much for Jason.

As he descended into the cave, Jason could hear soft singing echoing up towards him, slightly off tune. He couldn’t understand the words, and didn’t know the meaning, but he remembered the melody. A lullaby, Dick had told him, years ago, when he’d sung it to him to scare away the nightmares that had plagued him even after Jay was safely secured in the manor and off the streets. Dick’s father had sung it to him when he was scared, sick, or just couldn’t sleep.

Jay had always liked it, but he’d always been too embarrassed to ask what it meant, or to request Dick teach it to him. He’d been working up his courage to do so when… when lullabies no longer mattered. And when the nightmares came again, after he had come back, Dick wasn’t the one singing the lullabies to him to sooth him. It had been another voice, in another language, singing another song.

Jay winces as Dick’s voice cracks on a higher note. Talia had been better at singing, and she knew her range. She’d never sing a note that she couldn’t make. Her songs had been sweet, and clear and comforting. But somehow, they’d never been quite as much like a hug as Dick’s had been.


	2. Chapter 2

Dick sang softly as he sat, patching up a tear in one of Jay’s jackets. It calmed his nerves to sing the song his father had taught him, steadying the trembling in his hands when he’d seen the tear. Long and jagged, it had to have come from one of those bats. Jason thought the irony of them funny. Dick’s lip curls just thinking about them. They weren’t Man-Bat, they weren’t humans turned monster through some leak of toxins or even from a carefully planned attack. In fact, Dick isn’t entirely sure where they came from, other than the fact that normal sized bats are now a rarity, even in the Batcave. Heh. Irony. Dick hates it these days.

He sighs and looks up as he hears Jason’s footsteps. “Are you alright?” he calls out.

“Peachy.” Jay comes into Dick’s line of view, tossing his mask onto a table and setting down his bag. “You?” Dick just gives a soft, disapproving hum. “What? Is it hurting a lot today?”

“No.”

“Are you hungry?”

“No.”

Jay sighs and walks closer. “Then what-” he spots the torn jacket in Dick’s hands. “Ah… I wasn’t in danger. It wasn’t attacking me, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Didn’t even knick my skin.”

“You say that.”

“You think I’d lie to you?”

“Yes.” Jay opens his mouth to protest but then shrugs a bit, agreeing. “If it had been nothing you would have shown me instead of hiding the evidence where you didn’t think I could reach it.”

Jay freezes, “You shouldn’t have been able to…” He strides towards Dick and grabs his shoulders. “What did you do?”

“I can get around still, Jason.”

“You shouldn’t be moving around. Jesus Dick would you have had to fucking climb.”

“I was stretching and it caught my eye.”

“Well stop stretching!”

“No!” Dick’s voice has a viscous hint to it and Jay flinches. He turns and grabs his crutches, thrusting the mended jacket at Jay and walking away. Anyone else would have had to hobble with the crutches but Dick made even those movements graceful.

“How is it today…?” Jay asks cautiously.

“Sore.”

“We could leave now, Dick… find someone left who could help you… This doesn’t have to be a permanent thing…”

“We can’t leave Gotham.”

“He’s gone, Dick… We don’t have to keep our promises to him…”

“Yes we do.”

“Dick…”

“We do!” Dick spins and quickly moves to stand before Jay. “I’ve already broken too many promises to him! I won’t break this one! Not while I’m still breathing.”

“What good is this? There’s nothing to save. The people are gone, Dick. No one is left. Gotham is hell on earth now and us being here isn’t going to change anything!”

“It will! Gotham still stands!”

“But how long will we?” Jay says quietly. Dick’s expression flickers and Jay sighs and scoops him up.

“Put me down.”

“Just shut up.” He strides towards their cots and sets Dick down on his before sitting down on his own and holding his own. “Dick… we can’t keep living like this…”

“I know…”

“Someday… I’m going to go out there… and what happens if I don’t come back…?”

“Don’t say that!”

“It’s the truth. You almost didn’t come back, Dick. If… if the city could do this to you… This isn’t our Gotham anymore. It’s hell on earth. No one is coming back here. No one could. There. Is. Nothing. To. Protect.”

Dick doesn’t look up at him and Jay stands, moving to sit next to Dick, putting his arm around his shoulder.

“I want you to be okay again, Dick. I want you to be able to fly again… This… this doesn’t suit you anymore than the cowl did. It’s not you and we could fix it. If we just… left.”

“But I…”

“I know you promised… but haven’t you made promises to me?”

Dick doesn’t move, just seems to go more still.

“You have. You promised me you’d be here for me when I needed you, Dick. You promised me you’d protect me like the big brother you are. And I believe you will. You just have to let me protect you and help you first.”

“Some… some big brother I am… Where has having me for a brother ever saved anyone…?”

“It saved me. I wouldn’t be able to do this alone, Dick.” Jay stares at Dick then takes a deep breath. “Remember the costume you gave me. With those damned scaley panties. Told me I’d grow into it?”

“Yeah…?”

“Never wore it.”

“Oh…” Dick sags a bit.

“But not because I… well not because I never grew into it. I was big enough for it not long after you gave it to me. I couldn’t bear the thought of wearing it on patrol and it getting scratched or ruined. I tucked it away, so I could look at it. I uh… I asked it questions… sometimes… when you weren’t around. You know… WWRD.” Dick looks up at Jay, confused and Jay grins. “What Would Robin Do?” Dick cracks a bit of a smile at that. “Yes! Oh man, there’s that smile!” Jay pinches Dick’s cheeks and tugs at them before leaning into him. “What would Dick do,” he asks quietly, “if his little brother was injured and he knew that breaking a promise to Bruce might help fix him?”

“He’d say a life is more important than any promise…”

“Exactly. Dick. Your life—your wellbeing—is more important than some promise.”

“I… yeah…”

“Good. Then we will leave in the morning.”

Dick stays quiet and Jay hugs him lightly before standing and moving to start packing. “Hey…”

Jay turns back to him. “Yes?”

“Thank you… little wing….”

“You’re welcome, big brother…”

There’s the slightest hint of a smile on Dick face and Jay beams at that, assured now that they were making the right choice. Anything that could make Dick smile again had to be the right choice.


End file.
